You should feel really proud of all the steps you've taken to make this year the best yet. So far we've...

• Challenged ourselves with bigger goals.
  
• Organized and made sure we had well rounded goals for our mind, body, spirit and career.
• Taken the time to make our goals tangible and keep ourselves accountable.
• Found a goal setting partner. 

The last bit in my goal setting process is staying positive and regularly visualizing archiving each goal.

The Law of Attraction, Visualizing and The Secret are a few things that have been in vogue for a while now. However, I think a main concept of that advice has been lost to many, visualizing will mean nothing without action. 

In the goal setting process we created, we negated that by writing our action steps first in order not to get lost in wishful thinking. 

Being positive and inundating yourself with positive reinforcement is paramount to keeping yourself motivated to achieve all that you want this year. Make a Pinterest board with things you want, positive quotes, people you admire, places you want to see, even people you want to emulate. Make this the place you go to escape all the negative energy in your life and avoid all the naysayers that will inevitably show up and distract you from your goals.

I always use Picasso as an example, if he didn't believe in himself, no one else would have. The same is true for you, if you don't put in the time, energy and sacrifice needed to make yourself better no one else will.

It will be hard, it will be challenging and at times you'll want to quit; I'm here to tell you to embrace these moments, this will be the time where you'll have the greatest chance to learn exactly what you're made of and just how bad you want to archive your goals. You'll grow a thicker skin, you'll become more determined and you'll achieve greater things. 

We cannot learn from success. We absolutely cannot learn from success, because success is something that has to be built, success is something that has to be achieved. We can only learn from our failures and one day become successful because of them. 

Think about that.  The real value to our future success is our current and past failures. Life is the great equalizer, we all start at level zero, and everyday we have to figure out a way to get to that next level.

I can't tell you the amount of people that I meet who get stuck on one level and most likely never figure out how to grow, how to overcome a plateau, because they want to blame anyone and everything for their failures instead of looking at themselves and asking "What can I do to change my situation?" 

Something else I see creatives do all the time especially in photography is practice. I meet photographers all the time who tell me how much they love photography and that they take photos everyday then show me their work and I have to close my eyes to keep them from exploding in my brain. 

Practice will not make you better. Better practice will make you better. If you keep practicing bad technique, you are going to be really good at being bad, you have to put in the time to learn better techniques in order to get better, period. 

I've given you all the tools that I've learned in the years about creating a successful goal setting process, I hope you will be able to use it as is or find a way to adapt some part of it into your creative life.  

By now you should be feeling pretty good about the upcoming year. Everything you need to do it is laid out right in front of you. 

You have a direction, a plan and a road map to make this your best year yet. Treat yourself to something special for all the work you've done so far. 

You are still missing one key thing in the goal setting process and this is my secret weapon. 

Don't go it alone! 

Find a goal setting buddy, someone who will be a positive influence and help keep you on track. 

For years I did the goal setting process alone and although it was still helpful, by the end of the year I found that I'd fallen short more often than not. I would get things done in the career section, but nothing for the body section. I let a year pass without giving a second thought to my health and what is success if you aren't in good shape to enjoy it?

My goal setting buddy is Matt, one of my dearest friends from my publishing days in New York City. Matt was my shinning star at a time in my life when everything felt bleak. When I said I wanted to move to Paris, it was Matt who helped me hang images of my dream city all around my desk. He suggested that we start learning some French words and we would practice our list at lunch. Matt believed in my dream more that I ever did and because he believed in it, I started to believe in it too. 

At my work computer I had made it a habit to look at the prices of tickets going to Paris, for months I would come into work, sit at my desk and the first thing I would do, was look up airline prices. Then I would immediately close the window because I thought I would never be able to do. It was a silly dream, and I was growing embarrassed that I had even shared it with Matt. 

With Matt's help, that silly dream became more and more real, I started to think that maybe I could move to Paris, and I started looking at tickets and apartments. Things just started to snowball from there and I wanted Paris, more that I wanted anything else. More than my career, more than my boyfriend, more that my apartment and all the things inside it that I owned. My "good on paper" life was becoming more and more like a 1000 pound weight that was drowning me, and Paris seemed to be more and more like my lifesaver. 

It's an afternoon that I will never forget; it was a particularly stressful day at work and all I wanted to do was cry from how unhappy I was, so like always I looked up the price for tickets to Paris. That day was different, that day I did something I had never done before and I looked up the price of a one-way ticket. With all the encouragement that Matt had given me in the 2 years we had worked together, I was ready, ready to give it all up and take my chances. My hands shaking, I took out my credit card and and bought my one-way-ticket to salvation.

Within the following week I would break up with my boyfriend, put all of my stuff for sale on Craigslist, give up my apartment and tell my friends and family that I was leaving. 

You see, even though I didn't have a job, a plan, a place to live, and didn't know a word of French - I had the one thing that I had needed all along, someone who believed in me, when I didn't even believe in myself. 

Even though I now live a good 4,000 miles away and 6 hours ahead we still find time once a week to talk on Skype. We help each other set goals for the next year, suggest possible revisions, suggest action steps we can take and we keep each other accountable. We share stories of success and learn from where we've fallen short. 

This has been the single most important factor in my goal setting habit, having that person who wants to see me attain my goals and helps me stay focused thought out the year. 

Do whatever you need to to find someone like this in your life. If you don't feel like you have someone like that in your life then put a post up on Craigslist, find or start a Meetup group, a Google Hangout; whatever you can to find that one person who will be your North Star. 

This is such an important part, if you've exhausted everything else and still can't find someone, then send me an email and I'll help you with your goals - even though I may not be able to ever repay what Matt did for me, I can surely try to pay it forward.

The last time it snowed, really snowed in Paris was in 2010. I think there were five snow storms that winter and it was amazing. Snow in Paris is a rarity and when it happens there is really something magical about it. 

So when it snowed last month I was head over heals and spent nearly two days roaming the streets of Paris, photographing the city covered in a beautiful layer of snow. As much as I was hoping that it would happen again, it seems that it was the only show we would see this winter and because of that I am so happy I stayed outside in the bitter cold to capture it all. 

I have a list that I refer to of places that I want to photograph when something interesting is happening. I keep this list so I can keep myself from repeating things, I don't want to fall into a routine of always photographing the same thing and the same places and lately, I've been feeling like I was getting into a photographic rut. 

So when is snowed I headed to Montmartre on the first day and to the Palais Royal the second. Both areas of Paris that I missed last time that it snowed and was curious to see how the stark white would change it.

I was pleasantly surprised as the areas I had chosen seemed almost baron. Not many people out and the snow was still fresh and crisp.

I love these columns by #artist #DanielBuren and I'm always surprised how unnoticed they seem to be by the locals. 

What I love most about his work is his #philosophy that #art dosen't have to mean anything, art can just be art. In one sentence he gets rid of all my #artistic angst. 

Do what you love, because you love it!

Doesn't it feel good to have things all nice and tidy? Good, cause now is where the real work starts. 

Remember that shiny new private jet you said you wanted? Well now you have to think about just how you are going to get it. 

The real magic of goal setting is creating action steps for your goals. Its great to say you want something, but you have to be willing to work for it and work hard. Don't worry, because we are going to break down those big goals into small bit size pieces. 

First, more organizing. Subcategories are where you will put in the action steps and start making those goals more tangible. Take those big year goals and break them down into monthly goals, your monthly goals should be made up of these four qualities:

• Tangible 
• Action Steps
• Deadline
• Consequence 

Tangible - If you write down "I want to earn $100,000 this year" That's not really a tangible goal, it doesn't mean anything. You have to come up with ways to get to that goal. To make that a tangible goal you would write "I want to earn $100,000 this year by getting more portrait and event photography work." Give yourself a big pat on the back, cause now you have a goal and a game plan. Good job!Actions Steps - Now that you have a game plan, you can start building your road map to success. Your goal is to "earn $100,000 this year by getting more portrait and event photography work." Great! Perfect! Genius! But wait, how are you going to get more portrait and event photography work? Let's brain storm some action steps. 

Maybe you want to do child and senior portrait photography, so you need to 
 • Find out where parents are, where they hang out in you community, what they read
 • Learn how to market your services to them.
 • Find children and seniors to photograph for free, build your portfolio and get reviews
Deadline - This an important one, you have to keep yourself accountable for actually achieving the action steps. I give myself deadlines based on month and week. Use a little logic and figure out what your first step should be. In this case I would say to start with building your portfolio, after all you need to have something to market.  

January - Find children and seniors to photograph for free, build your portfolio and get reviews
• Week 1 - ask family and friends if they would be willing to have their children photographed by you
• Week 2 - set up 3 photo shoots
• Week 3 - find more people to photograph by putting a post on Craigslist
• Week 4 - Contact everyone you photographed and ask for a review to add to your website.

Do the same thing for the next goal the following month. Each month and week you should be working on an action step from each category mind, body, spirit and career. To start yourself in the goal setting habit you could even break it down further into a daily to-do list  

January Week 1 - ask family and friends if they would be willing to have their children photographed by you
• Monday - email Kathy 
• Tuesday - email cousin Bob
Consequence - Have a real life consequence for not achieving your goals. Now you can do it by either positive reinforcement, negative or both. It depends on they type of person you are, see what works best for you. I would suggest giving yourself monthly rewards to keep yourself motivated on the bigger picture, but you can of course do it weekly. 

For negative reinforcement you could say "f I don't have 3 photo sessions scheduled for next week then I can't use sugar or salt in anything I cook for an entire week." Yuck! Bland food for a week, that should motivate you to send some emails. 

For positive reinforcement you could say "if I book 3 photo sessions for next week, then Friday night I'll treat myself to a movie." I really enjoy going to the movies.

Not so hard is it? Everything is set up to keep your goals in an active state. Do this for a year and you will be amazed with what you can get done.

So now that you have everything you've ever wanted written down, it's time to get organized and do some editing. 

I like to categorize my goals into four sections:

• Mind
• Body
• Spirit 
• Career

Take everything you wrote down and place them into one of the four categories listed above, label them so that it makes sense to you, some things may seem like it over laps a bit, but label it with what feels right. I define these sections to mean...

Mind - Anything that enriches you mentally. It could be reading more books, going to lectures, visiting museums or learning new art techniques, anything along these lines. For me I am a big self learner, I'm always reading, listing to lectures, subscribed to photography blogs. I am constantly working on bettering myself and my  craft. 

Body - Anything that enriches you physically. It could mean to workout more, eat better, drink less something along those lines. I personally try to drink more water and take my dog for a 1hr walk each day. I'm upping the anty this year by adding running once a week and eating less meat. 

Spirit - I'm not particularly a religious person, but religions or not, I think everyone can have spiritual goals. Examples are being more positive, staying in the present, meditate, giving more time to your favorite hobby, spend time with friends and family, be more social or meet someone special. Anything that is just for you, where you can turn off the world and its pressures and just take a moment to be grateful for what you have, refocus on what you want and completely enjoy a simple pleasure in life. 

Career - Anything related to your art that you would like to accomplish. If you want to have an exhibit, make more money, write more, make better connections, network, market yourself, get better at public speaking or learn new art techniques, whatever it might be for you. Remember that private jet you said you wanted this year, this is the section to put it in. Why? Well because you need to achieve goals in your career to make more money to buy that private jet. Use this section for your wants as well, new camera, bigger apartment, faster car, etc. 

I started organizing my goals into these parts when I relocated to France, I realized that being a freelancer more and more of my time and goals was focused on work. I was neglecting other parts like my spirit and body. Being a freelancer your life can quickly be all about work and finding a new client as soon as possible, but it is important to still make time for you. Give yourself work hours, weekends and vacations, this will keep you from burning out and becoming overwhelmed with all the hats you have to wear as an artist. Taking time away also can help you recharge your creativity (read previous post about taking time off here) and find new inspirations. 

Grab your pen and paper and start cleaning up that goal list. If you find that you are missing goals for a particular section than take a moment to add a new goal for that section. All fours parts are important for your sanity so don't neglect any of them! 

Step one of my goal setting process is my favorite one and as a creative I'm sure it'll be the easiest part for you as well. 

Write down everything you want for the upcoming year. Make a long, no holds-bar list, shoot for the stars. You want a private jet this year: Go for it! 

This can be a bit counter intuitive. I read a quote once that read something like "the key to creativity is limitation." The main idea was that when you have limitless possibilities it's hard to get concrete results. However, sometimes when you impose limitations on yourself you can actually stretch your creativity. 

For instance, something I do regularly as a photographer is look for negative space. A typical art theory, but a difficult one, at least for me. I find it challenging to find one subject and surround it with nothing, yet still be able to make it speak volumes. That's something I do regularly to stretch my creativity. 

So set your goals for something big, to push yourself but make sure it is realistically attainable. If your goal is to be president of the world, then you'd need to find a better blog than this one to help you attain that one. 

One other tactic that I use to push me to dream and to dare is to ask myself "What would I do if I weren't afraid?" A lot of times we don't dare to dream for that goal because we are a afraid of something, most of the time I find it's a fear of the unknown, a fear of letting go or worst a fear of our own success. 

I realized this in my mid 20's it was a time in my life where I desperately wanted to change but I was frozen with fear of following my dream. I wanted to do something that reminded me of what it was like to be fearless, like when I was a child. I wasn't afraid to take risks and consequences was just a funny word. 

My answer was to jump out of plane, literally! I went skydiving on my 25th birthday, I asked myself "what would I do if I weren't afraid?" and at the time my answer was "I'd jump", so I did. 

Now, I am by no means suggesting you run to the nearest airport and jump out of the next thing scheduled for take-off. But face some fear in your life, maybe go to a bar and hit on a hot guy, ask your boss for a raise, whatever it is for you. 

I found when I conquered that fear, when I pushed myself to over come those bounds, I trusted myself more, I believed that I could do anything I set my mind to. 

A few months later I took the big leap and I bought myself a one-way ticket to Paris; 5 years later I'm still here and shudder to think what my life would have been like if I never dared to dream, if I had never asked myself "what would you do if you weren't afraid?"

I used to work at Time Inc, one of the top magazine publishers in the world. I worked as a photo coordinator and was responsible for negotiating photo pricing for international licensees and fulfilling a bunch of important sounding photographic needs. 

Every year we had to come up with career and personal goals and each week we would sit with our manager and report on our progress, struggles and whatever we needed to fine tune. Our manager, in return, would offer advice, set up introductions or offer whatever help they could in order to help you reach your goals. 

This is where I first got introduced to the idea of goal setting and where I learned just how powerful of a tool it is. I now continue that practice personally, each year after my birthday I start to brain storm what I want to accomplish for the upcoming year. By January 1st my list in written in stone and I work towards my yearly goals. 

Over the years I've fine tuned the process into something that works really well for me. Each year I raise the bar and hold myself accountable to achieve more. I try not to put anything easy or what I refer to as "low hanging fruit" in order to make sure that I am growing. 

My philosophy is "If I want more than I have, then I have to be willing to become better than I am." Each day I want to be a little bit better that the day before. 

I have a good friend in Paris (who is a very accomplished writer), that has been asking me for months about how I stay so focused and get so much done. I told her that I just write out my goals, simple enough. As the topic kept coming up I realized just how wrong I was. It wasn't simple at all and I quickly realized that the small tid-bits I'd been offering was becoming overwhelming for her. 

I never told her the process, it's become so second nature for me, I've forgot that it's a personal process that has evolved from about 10 years or research, trial and error. 

So I decided I needed to sit down with her and explain exactly what it is that I do and how she could possibly build her own goal setting habits. 

We met for breakfast this morning and we started talking; 2hours later I was amazied with how methodical I had become over the years with my stagey and I thought that I should share it as I think it will help many other artists (or anyone). 

I'll be posting in detail the steps you can take to set up and organize your new year goal strategy, I offer this information in hope that all or some will help you to change things in your life and art career. 

I had a visitor in Paris recently, my mother. She stayed for a month and I was faced with the challenge of trying to keep her entertained, which was not an easy task. 

I have a (good or bad) habit of being work focused, I tend to stay in one place and just work on my photography business; and since I'm still a one woman show, that ends up meaning no time off. 

My mothers trip was planned a bit last minute and I already had photo shoots booked, that couldn't be rescheduled, I decided to take some long over due day trips out of Paris. 

I fell in love with taking short trips out of Paris, I felt rejuvenated, and more creative then ever. I hadn't realized how much I needed a break. The next couple of posts will talk about each one of my day trips and what I loved about them. 

But here are a few images from each location. 

What a busy year this has been working on the first annual Grand Prix de la Dècouverte International fine art photography competition. We received some absolutely stunning entries and choosing the winners was no easy task.

But next week starts off with a ton of events and we need your help to make it a success!

We will be show casing the winner at NoFound Photo Fair and need volunteers to watch the booth from November 15th to the 19th in 2hr intervals. The booth hours are from 11am -8pm 

If you volunteer you get free admission into NoFound Photo fair. 

If you would like to help out please email me here 

And don't miss the lecture on November 13th! Some of our jury panel will be leading a discussion and explain why they chose the winners. Valuable insight if you plan on entering next years competition starting in January 2013!

Fine out more about the upcoming events here